Abigail Savitch-Lew

Dear friends,
It’s been one whirlwind of a month since the release of Livonia Chow Mein, and there’s plenty yet to come. Please help me spread the word about the following events!

Wednesday May 27, 7 pm – The Word is Change Bookstore in Bed-Stuy Please RSVP here for Fiction as Millennial Cultural Critique: Two Debut Authors in Conversation. 

Daniel Pope, the debuting author of Go Help Yourself (May 5, 2026), and I will share the spotlight for a book talk exploring millennial angst, fiction as cultural and political critique, and craft strategy. For a taste of his book, check out this Instagram post I made highlighting some of my favorite quotes!

Monday, June 15, 7 pm – Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA
More info here

Excited to see my Boston family and friends, and to be in conversation with Michelle Min Sterling about Livonia Chow Mein. (Side note: I’m currently deep into Michelle’s suspenseful, feminist, climate apocalypse novel, set in 2050. It’s fun but also makes me extremely anxious!!)

Thursday, June 18, 6:30 pm – Center for Brooklyn History in Downtown Brooklyn
Register here

Event description: “Inspired by the publication of Abigail Savitch-Lew’s novel Livonia Chow Mein, this conversation explores the long history of community control movements in historically Black Brooklyn neighborhoods, from the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school struggles of the late 1960s, to the culturally and politically groundbreaking organization The East in the 1970s, to today’s community land trust movement.”

This is a panel discussion and an event unlike the others, its focus on the history of self-determination movements in Central and East Brooklyn. I’m super psyched to be in conversation with four extraordinary Brooklynites and community leaders: Mark Winston Griffith, founding Executive Director of the Brooklyn Movement Center; Debra Ack founding member of East New York Community Land Trust; Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, educator and cultural activist, who grew up within The East; and artist Monifa Edwards, who was a student during the Ocean Hill-Brownsville teachers’ strike. If Brooklyn’s future is important to you, please come out to learn from them!

Did you miss it?

• Former NYC Comptroller and current Congressional Candidate Brad Lander filmed a reel with me about Livonia Chow Mein. (Don’t forget to vote! Click here to learn more about the upcoming NYC Primaries.)
• The Red Hook Star-Revue’s Michael Quinn wrote a perceptive review of the book.
• I had my first appearance on CBS, with more to come.

As always: thank you, friends, for all the love and support. It means everything.

-Abby